Hello, I'm a new user here, and one of the main reasons for me joining this forum is that I need something desperately clearing up for me (and others for that matter) concerning Twilight Princess and its soundtrack. Obviously the main site focuses on RPG soundtracks, so I thought I could meet knowledgeable people who know about Twilight Princess and its matter of a soundtrack on this forum. This is a fairly long read, and I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read this and help me out. But I think the web needs a topic like this, because I cannot find a good site discussing this matter, and with the help I can hopefully get from other users here, I (and others) will be able to direct people here for the (hopefully) truth in the future.

Before we go on, I should point out that there MAY be ever so slight spoilers for TP further on. I will try to refrain from this, but just in case...

Right then, I have two things that I need clearing up for me:

1. The matter of whether there actually is any OFFICIAL soundtrack released by Nintendo for Twilight Princess.

2. Concerning the naming of the song played when Midna is in need of help.

Point 1 - No Official Soundtrack for Twilight Princess?

Starting with point 1, I have done a lot of research into looking at whether an official soundtrack was released by Nintendo for TP. On soundtrack sites everywhere, where you can buy OSTs including other Zelda albums (such as for OoT, MM and TWW), there are never any results for TP. There are no records of a full OST being released by Nintendo. A major thing is that there is no official review at this here site for a TP OST either! So, that is surely more proof that there isn't a TP official soundtrack. Everywhere that offers you the ability to download the "official" soundtrack seems to have only self-proclaimed their download as official. There is absolutely no evidence that they were made and released by Nintendo. They are just audio rips from the game.

And this was apparently released as a gift to Nintendo Power subscribers. Personally, I'm not entirely sure that everything Nintendo Power does is fully in sole connection with Nintendo the company in Japan. Could this be considered to be an official Nintendo release? It's like how I remember getting a selection of Zelda tracks with the magazine 'Nintendo Official Magazine UK' a few years ago. It was definitely no official Nintendo company release - it just seemed slapped together by the mag themselves. And that's the same feeling I get with that TP Nintendo Power disc. It doesn't seem like an official Nintendo album to me.

I've seen what many people consider an official album for TP released by Nintendo though. I cannot find a good webpage for this soundtrack but I've uploaded the apparent front and back covers to view here:

Now, would Nintendo themselves release such a badly organised soundtrack like this? The word "official" is missing the second letter "i" for starters. There are also misspellings and such on the back cover too. "Ilia's Theme" is missing the apostrophe for one. Certain other spellings look like bad English, as if it's been written by someone who doesn't speak the language. From what I remember as well, the "End Credits" track also contains the voice effects of the characters like Midna and Link when they are talking in front of the mirror at the end of the game. Would an official track have the voice effects in there? I don't think so. Sounds like a direct game rip to me. Not to mention the whole thing looks like a very basic Photoshop job. It looks far too basic for an official Nintendo release.

So can I be safe in saying that the company Nintendo, of Japan, have not released an official soundtrack at all, anywhere in the world? Is it safe to say that any album claiming to be official is only self-proclaimed and they are actually game rips? The Nintendo Power album is the closest "official" thing we have if they are a part of Nintendo, but even that disc does not have the piano theme played when Midna is in need of help...

Now, if we look at the previous point of discussion, I think we can conclude that there has been no OFFICIAL soundtrack release for Twilight Princess. The closest we can come to calling any TP album official is the one that certain Nintendo Power subscribers got, and this disc doesn't contain the track in question here.

There are many people out there that refer to this song by many different names. I think the two most popular names are "Midna's Desperate Hour" and "Midna's Lament".

Let me get this out there before I go on - it doesn't matter what you call the song. Pretty much everybody knows which song you're talking about when you call it by the name you use, whether that be Midna's Desperate Hour, Midna's Lament, Midna's Distress... Whatever. The point I want to make is about the song's OFFICIAL title. If you don't care about it's real name or what it is or isn't, then please refrain from getting pissed at this. But I just want to get this discussion out there for people that do wish to understand about the song's official name.

Anyway.

The point I make about there not being any official soundtrack for TP means that all track names have been named by fans. That includes tracks played during particular scenes in the game, and definitely includes the theme played when Midna is in trouble. My take on this is that someone appropriately named the song "Midna's Desperate Hour". It's a perfectly fitting name for the song played during this part of the game. Not many would argue it's a bad choice of words. It became popular. It caught on. Soon, loads of people were calling it this name.

But, why are there other names then? Because other people also came up with their names for this song. "Midna's Distress". "Midna's Desperation". All fitting names, but still different. All of them caught on to different people and became pretty popular. I would say the most popular name is "Midna's Desperate Hour" though.

But, is that the official title of the song?

I don't think so.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl came along, and Nintendo included a variation of this famous tune in the game. In SSBB, Nintendo titled it "Midna's Lament".

Official confirmation of the track's real name?

I think so.

Many people will argue that they are different songs so should have different names, but they are not. They are the same song, but the SSBB version is a variation. An alteration. Variations do not get brand new names in most cases. Some people argue that maybe they couldn't fit the whole name of "Midna's Desperate Hour" into the game, but that's rubbish because there are tons of much longer names than that in Brawl.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Twilight Princess are not the same game, but one game contains the name of the song, the other does not. Seeing as Nintendo has made both games and there has been no official soundtrack for Twilight Princess, the only confirmation we have for the name of this song is in SSBB and it goes by the name of "Midna's Lament".

Feel free to call the song whatever you want, but for those that want to know the official title of the song that Nintendo themselves call it - look no further than Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the title of "Midna's Lament".

Surely the name of a song in a video game made by Nintendo themselves is worth more than fan-made titles and game rips of songs from TP which has no OST at all.

~~~

Phew, finished. Please feel free to post your thoughts and opinions on these matters. I'm hopeful that people can agree with me on this one.

And please, I have absolutely no intention of trying to cause arguments or anything of the sort with this message. I will gladly have civilised chats with anyone who wants to talk about this. Please keep things pleasant and friendly.

Obviously the main site focuses on RPG soundtracks, so I thought I could meet knowledgeable people who know about Twilight Princess and its matter of a soundtrack on this forum.

Looks like both of us have come to the wrong place searching for "knowledge" if the previous posts are an example of how this place runs.

Anyway, I have the TP soundtrack from Nintendo Power and it's a piece of crap. Poor quality and not many songs included, I *highly doubt* it counts as an official Nintendo release but it's the only Twilight Princess soundtrack I've ever come across which can be purchased (legally). Plenty of illegal rips available, I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could gather together a near-complete music collection.

The two examples of cd cover art and track listing you've pointed out to look like a fanmade Photoshop disaster to me.

And about the song title. Since I don't know of any official Nintendo releases (and that particular tracks was not included in NP's cd) I would assume it comes down to Japanese-English translations. All of the names I've seen are similar variations of the same meaning so most likely it just depends on which fan translated the titles. The most common translation I've seen personally is "Midna in Distress". Use the title you like best, I don't think it really matters.

M'kay I'm out of here before these illiterate prepubescent irritating rubes come back.

AussieWolf, thanks for the reply. I too am disappointed at the sorts of replies I've got in this thread. I was hoping that due to the nature of the forum I would get some intelligent posts, but nevermind.

I can only agree with what you said really. I do not own the Nintendo Power CD although from what I know, I don't think it could count as an official Nintendo release either.

As I pointed out, it's like getting the cheap freebie Zelda Series CD with Nintendo Official Magazine UK a few years ago. In no way was it an official Nintendo release - it was a cheaply made CD with random Zelda songs.

Concerning the Midna song name, I guess it could come down to translation. But when it comes to official titling, the closest we can come to official naming from Nintendo is in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. And even though it isn't Twilight Princess, it's still a Nintendo game, which counts as confirmation in my eyes.

That's a negative, champ. This is a MUSIC forum. As in, all music. And if you had done what was already mentioned, you could have easily noticed that the majority of topics are about rock and heavy metal. We do have game music topics of course, but they are few in number and not quite so...rantish in nature. Which is why you got the responses that you got. This sort of topic would go down well at Chudah's Corner or OverClocked Remix's forums or somewhere that caters specifically to VGM; a quick glance could have told you that this is not such a place.

In other words you posted a pretty good solid post, but these aren't the droids you're looking for. Move along. It is not to say that we don't love our video game music, you just won't see much posts pertaining towards the topic. Definitely swing by OC Remix if you want to talk about video game music, I'm usually there to praise or shake my head at ReMixes or check on soundtrack posts.